"Hammer House of Horror"
Rude Awakening (1980)

Director:

Peter Sasdy

Writer:

Gerald Savory (teleplay)

TV Series:

"Hammer House of Horror" (1980)

Original Air Date:

27 September 1980 (Season 1, Episode 3)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A real estate broker finds himself having dreams that seem to be incredibly real. They are so real, in fact, that he begins to wonder which is the dream and which is reality.

Plot Keywords:

Anthology | Gothic | Supernatural

Cast

Denholm Elliott	...	Norman Shenley
James Laurenson	...	Rayburn
Pat Heywood	...	Emily Shenley
Lucy Gutteridge	...	Lolly
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Lady Strudwick
Gareth Armstrong	...	Dr. Melbury
Patricia Mort	...	Maid

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Goofs:

Continuity: In the dream where Lolly is dressed up in shocking (no pun intended) pink, Lucy Gutteridge is wearing her wedding ring when Norman and Lolly inspect the block of flats, but not in the previous scene when they are in the office. Nor in any other scene in the programme.

Hammer House Of Horror: Rude Awakening (Peter Sasdy, 1980) (TV) ***

This is the best episode in this series so far, a rather intriguing tale with a DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)-like cyclical structure and a definite surrealistic flavor. I'd even venture to call it Bunuelian, given its progression of dreams-within-dreams (a' la THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE [1972]) and the fact that the hero's dreamgirl – delightfully played by Lucy Gutteridge – exchanges her look every time she appears to fit his current state-of-mind (shades of THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE [1977])! Denholm Elliott is perfectly cast as the initially smug, then bewildered estate agent who receives a mysterious visitor about the sale of a remote old property – which sets him off on a nightmarish journey (with events seemingly occurring over a period of days, but it's eventually revealed that only a full day has passed). Entwined in this plot is his attempt to get a divorce from his unattractive middle-aged wife in order to take up with the firm's sluttish secretary: eventually, he can't discern dream from reality – and it all ends with his wife murdered, and the girl not as willing as he had believed! Other dreams involve the demolition of a block of flats which Elliott and his secretary happen to be surveying at the moment, and the operation on the hero for the removal of a brain tumor carried out by the mysterious client and assisted by Elliott's own wife and 'lover'!